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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I have searched google and this forum plus others with the quoted string in the topic without any useful results.
This is a new install of slackware 11 on my homebuilt sempron 2600. I'm using the 2.6.18 kernel from the slackware 11 dvd and have the nvidia driver installed successfully. Hotplugging doesn't work though but since the only output dmesg gives is "Intel ISA PCIC probe: not found." repeated over and over it doesn't help much.

I remember this from a while ago, but I'm not sure. I believe it is a problem with the computer attempting to find laptop pluggable devices. These are in the PCMCIA-CS package. Since you are running a sempron, I assume its a desktop. If you are running a desktop, you won't need this package installed. I think the other person solved it by just removing this package.

rigelan, Thanks for your help. I read the thread and checked /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia but it wasn't/isn't executable. So I have no idea what the problem is.
Would trying a newer kernel be of any help-and which kernel can I use with minimun fuss?
Thanks!

I don't understand why this is so hard
After changing to a 2.6.19 kernel I get a kernel panic. I then re-installed the 2.6.18 kernel from testing but it's still giving me a kernel panic.
I've been using linux/unix a long time and I can generally sort stuff out. No matter what I do with grub or menu.lst my install is now unbootable unless I use the slackware install disc to boot with. I'm using a livecd to type this (pclinuxos)
I'm not a real fan of that distro but-it works.
I can't understand why slack is such a pain on so many levels-and I've used it since I began with linux 6 years ago. I can get a 2.6.x kernel working in slack 10.2 but it's a mess in 11.
I realize this is a rant-I'm giving up for now. Thanks for trying to help.

Thanks for wanting to help-believe it or not I've spent quite a bit of time in different forums helping too.
Since I can install 10.2 with the 2.6 kernel but 11 is NG I can't believe this is just me-but maybe it is.

There are no obvious differences in the startup messages.
Just the normal startup messages and then:
"kernel panic -not syncing : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (3-1)"

I'm about to replace the slackware (hd0,0) install with something else-I'm currently multi-booting 5 distros.

To solve the VFS panic, you need to have the filesystem and hardware chip support available at the time of the root mount.
That generally means compiled into the kernel, or in the initrd if you use one.

To solve the VFS panic, you need to have the filesystem and hardware chip support available at the time of the root mount.
That generally means compiled into the kernel, or in the initrd if you use one.

Since it worked or at least booted with the 2.6.18 kernel before I installed a later kernel and then re-installed the 2.6.18 what part of filesystem support could be the problem? I'm using reiserfs, noinitrd BTW.

well, check the .config for the kernel and see if you have reiserfs support built in ... if not, I can guarantee you that it won't boot.

Code:

CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y

Think about it ... during boot, first your bootloader loads the kernel into RAM. Then the kernel boots and tries to access the HDD, but the HDD is formatted in reiserfs and kernel doesn't support it, thus it can't read the disk and cannot load any modules because it can't mount the disk. In case you have reiserfs support as a module ... too bad, the kernel can't mount the HDD.

Another way to solve this is an initrd, which holds the modules that you need to boot so they can be loaded into RAM without the need for HDD access.

I recompiled the kernel but something when wrong now it sounds like it's starting up-after selecting my slack install thru the grub menu, but there is no startup output and no other terminal windows from alt+ctrl+f1-12 keys.